Betty Garrett, Gene Kelly, Ann Miller, Jules Munshin, Frank Sinatra, Vera-Ellen
On the Town
Warner Home Video
DVD
Donald O'Connor, Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds
Singin' in the Rain
Warner Home Video
DVD
Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan
The Band Wagon
Warner Home Video
DVD
Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, Gene Kelly, Betty Garrett, Edward Arnold
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Warner Home Video
DVD
Betty Comden (1919-) had finished her studies at NYU and was looking for a theatrical agent when she met Adolph Green in 1938. This was the beginning of a partnership that would last over six decades. They began writing material for a nightclub act called The Revuers, which included a young actress later known as Judy Holliday and a friend who sometimes played piano with them, Leonard Bernstein. When composer Bernstein was working on adapting his ballet for the musical theater, he asked them to collaborate on it,
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"New York, New York, a helluva town The Bronx is up and the Battery's down The people ride in a hole in the ground New York, New York, it's a helluva town."
Although most New Yorkers and millions of Americans know that lyric, few associate it with Betty Comden, who died in New York at the age of 91. Her life not only chronicles a history of the Broadway musicals I grew up with, but also an era that allowed many of us to believe in the beauty and power of New York, as well as that melancholy feeling many of us hold as we look back on a period when life was indeed simpler.
Betty Comden was born Basya Cohen on May 3, 1917 in Brooklyn. Her father's real last name, however, was Astershinsky Simselyevitch-Simselyovitch, which due to the whim of an Ellis Island clerk, became Cohen. Despite Basya meaning "daughter of God," she was tired of kids calling her "Bossie" and changed her first name to Betty – never Elizabeth. Since her last name had no history in the family, she combined it with her grandmother's name Emden, to become Betty Comden. The daughter of Leo, a lawyer, and Reb
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Betty Comden
American dramatist and lyricist (1917–2006)
Betty Comden
Comden circa 1939
Born
Basya Cohen
(1917-05-03)May 3, 1917
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died
November 23, 2006(2006-11-23) (aged 89)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)
Actress, librettist, lyricist, screenwriter
Years active
1944–2005
Spouse
Steven Kyle né Siegfried Schutzman
(m. 1942; died 1979)
Children
2
Betty Comden (May 3, 1917 – November 23, 2006) was an American lyricist, playwright, and screenwriter who contributed to numerous Hollywood musicals and Broadway shows of the mid-20th century. Her writing partnership with Adolph Green spanned six decades: "the longest running creative partnership in theatre history."[1] The musical-comedy duo of Comden and Green collaborated most notably with composers Jule Styne and Leonard Bernstein, as well enjoyed success with Singin' in the Rain, as part of the famed "Freed unit" at MGM.